Liverpool’s spending under Hicks and Gillett

According to former Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks, a man with a track record of telling lies (see here and here), Liverpool’s net spend under his and George Gillett’s reign was £150m.

Speaking to Sky Sports News on Friday, following the sale of the Club to NESV, Hicks told of an “epic swindle” and a conspiracy by Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre.

He also went on to blame Rafa Benitez and an “internet terrorism” campaign by the supporters.

Well, here’s the facts, Liverpool’s net spend was in fact £27m over the tenure of Hicks and Gillett’s reign. So the Texan was only £122m out with his claims.

Since Gillett and Hicks took charge in February 2007, Liverpool spent £172m on players, but recouped £144m. Hicks claims to have spent £300m in his interview.

As has been previously detailed, Liverpool’s net spend during the past four transfer windows has been negative.

Of course that didn’t stop Harry Redknapp recently questioning why Liverpool fans were so angry at Hicks and Gillett. Just how much exactly has Harry spent in that same time period? How would the almighty Englishman feel if he had less than £10m per season to spend on players (net)?

Let’s take the time to relive some memorable Hicks quotes:

“People are worried that I might take money away from the Rangers to go to Liverpool. But it is just the reverse. Liverpool is going to throw off lots of extra money which, if I choose to, I can use for the Rangers or the Stars.”

“When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool.”

“We made a significant investment in the playing squad during the summer and desperately want this team to succeed.”